en and left the ice
very much shattered and uneven. Yet there was no danger--walk miles and
miles in every direction--take care you don't step into those
unfathomable cracks and splits, for the longest and strongest arm ever
moulded could not save you from this the pit of Pluto!

Three miles from the point of descent, near the opposite shore of the
gulf, is still another large and deep crater, which probably plays the
safety-valve to the whole island. It is generally in a state of great
bubble and contention, but now was quiet, and only favored us
occasionally with a few uneasy sputterings, as if the vestal devil below
wished to have it understood, that he had not entirely gone out or shut
up the shop, but was more busily occupied poking the fires of Hecla or
Stromboli.

My companions were hunting over the broken slabs of vitreous lava for
bits of specimens, of a sort of glassy fibre, called Pele's hair, after
the heathenish superintendent of the realms: I was seated on a frowning
black ledge, near unto what resembled a long range of four story granite
warehouses, the day following a conflagration--resting my wearied limbs
and determining mentally in which direction I should run to escape, in
case the black, frothy cauldron should happen to boil over, or how I
should feel boiling in it; when my reverie was disturbed by a Caliban of
the calibashes, the color of a burnt brick, who was capering around in a
pair of primitive pattens, formed of rushes bound to his feet, as if the
lava was warmer and sharper than agreeable: pointing with his chin to
the mouth of the breathing crater, _aramai_, said he,--come
here--beckoning me to approach nearer, to make an impression with a
dollar in the molten mass, at the risk of my coins and singed fingers.
"_Aramai_ yourself, with that kettle of cold water," quoth I, quaffing a
sip to his infernal majesty's health and spirits. "I didn't come all the
way here to see simmering lava, and get my nose and toes scorched for
the trouble; believe me, fiery Pluto! those pleasurable sensations I've
enjoyed many a time and oft, years ago; but could you give us a
downright good ague with an earthquake, by way of a novelty, I should
consider my education completed, and make no further call upon your
generosity." Notwithstanding my invocation, the mountain remained firm
and apathetic, and becoming heartily disgusted, I forthwith turned my
back on Kilauea.

Our guide on this volcanic excursion rejoi